Investigators working for the Centinela Valley school district are building a case to fire suspended Superintendent Jose Fernandez, a move that would save the district about a half-million-dollar buyout called for in his contract, sources say.

It’s possible the school board could pull the trigger as soon as its next regular meeting on July 8. But sources say that depends on whether the investigative services company, Risk Control Strategies, is able to show evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Fernandez, who has come under scrutiny for his lavish compensation package.

Board members and administrators in the district that serves four high schools in Hawthorne and Lawndale have been mum on the matter. But sources close to the situation say the board had planned on firing Fernandez at its last regular meeting on Tuesday, but held off in favor of buttressing the case. The board has not seen RCS’s report.

Meanwhile, the public outcry that erupted after the revelations came out early this year seems to have quieted for now. The hundreds of people who flooded the first few school board meetings to voice outrage about Fernandez’s pay in the spring has dwindled to a handful.

Among those still showing up to demand answers is Stephen Koonz, who scolded the board in a mostly empty auditorium on Tuesday night.

“We (the voters) did not give you permission to loan money out, or to pay astronomical amounts of money to the superintendent,” he said during the part of the meeting designated for public comment. “When are the answers going to come?”

In response, board President Hugo Rojas hinted that the July board meeting could be a significant day.

“What I can share with you is that there is an ongoing investigation and we will have an update on July 8,” he said. “Because … there is legal counsel on both sides, we are limited in what we can say.”

Reached on his cellphone Friday, Fernandez declined to comment.

The board has been taking incremental steps to sever ties with the 54-year-old alumnus of the now-shuttered Lennox High School since the Daily Breeze reported in early February that his total earnings came to more than $663,000 last year and he took a $910,000 low-interest loan from the school district to purchase a home in Ladera Heights.

Fernandez’s generous employment contract — approved in late 2009 by four of the five current board members — contains a buyout clause that entitles him to 18 months of pay should he be let go without cause. Fernandez’s base salary minus perks is extremely difficult to parse out, but one internal spreadsheet obtained by the Daily Breeze puts it at about $335,000. This means his buyout would amount to about $504,000. The contract also says firing Fernandez would require a supermajority vote of at least four board members.

The board placed Fernandez on paid leave in April and revoked his paid status in May. That same month, the Centinela Valley school district hired Risk Control Strategies at a cost of $300 an hour. The company employs a stable of former FBI agents.

Separately, the FBI and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office are conducting criminal investigations.

Sources say the internal investigation by RCS has turned up some evidence that could allow the board to fire Fernandez for cause, thereby precluding the buyout. It is not clear what that evidence is.

The criminal investigations are grinding along at a steady pace; sources say the probes could take years to wrap up. Spokesmen from both the DA’s Office and FBI have said it is their policy not to comment on ongoing investigations.

But Betty Setterlund, former president of the teachers union, said a DA investigator told her that the case won’t conclude anytime soon. She and the investigator have an official appointment to talk in August.

It’s unclear what criminal charges could be brought against Fernandez. After all, the bulk of the perks that padded his pay were codified in the employment contract approved and signed by the board in late 2009.

But while the vote to approve his contract was unanimous, then-board President Gloria Ramos refused to sign it. Ramos — who still sits on the board — has long maintained that the contract she worked on with Fernandez in 2009 as board president wasn’t the same one the rest of the board was asked to approve a few months later while she was on maternity leave.

Asked to comment on whether RCS will examine that specific charge, interim Superintendent Bob Cox declined to answer, citing a request by investigators not to comment on the case while it is open.

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